Sliding door closure



April 19, 1966 J. A. RoGAs rl-:TAL

SLIDING DOOR CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 19, 1965 FIG. l

FIG. 5

INVENTORS ALBERT E. oLsoN JOHN A. RosAs BY (/M ATTOR NEY April 19, 1966 J. A. RoGAs ETAL 3,246,363

SLIDING DOOR CLOSURE i Filed Dec. 19, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS FIG. 2 ALBERT E. OLSON BY JOHN A. ROGAS Pls. s c/MM zd@ ATTORNEY vsufficient force to close the door.

United States Patent 3,246,363 SLIDING DOOR CLOSURE .lohn A. Rogas, 18222 Larkstone Drive, and Albert E. Olson, 12822 Swidler Place, both of Santa Ana, Calif. Filed Dec. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 331,729 2 Claims. (Cl. 16-78) yflexible band and pulls the door to a closed position. Al-

though some of these prior art devices have had mechanisms for adjusting the tension of the springs, these mechanisms have suffered from the disadvantage that they have slipped, and hence, the springs have had in- Moreover, the door closure mechanisms were incapable of being assemr bled so that they could close either left or right hand opening doors.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for automatically closing sliding doors which lincludes means for adjusting the tension o-f the spring of the closure mechanism, which means is positively locked into position and, hence, will v not slip.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sliding door closure which is readily convertible from right handed to left handed operation and the spring adjusting mechanism is also readily adjustable `so as to provide a positive lock once the spring is adjusted as desired.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a sliding door closure Which is simple in construction and readily adaptable for the fitting in a door frame.

According to the principal aspect of the present invention, a coil spring-type return door closure mechanism is provided in which there is a means for readily adjusting the tension of the spring, which means includes a ratchet wheel fixed to the .shaft which carries the coil spring in the closure and a paw] on the front .Wall of the housing of t-he closure which engages the ratchet wheel and, thereby provides a positive locking mechanism for the spring adjusting means.

According to another aspect of the invention, a housing vfor the sliding door closure is provided in Vwhich there are a pair of openings on opposite sidesrof the housing and the housing is formed of two similar sections which are readily removable so that the spring and reel assembly may be reversed and the flexible band on the vreel may be disposed out of either of said openings as desired. Thus, the closure mechanism may be utilized for either right hand or left hand opening doors. Furthermore, the pawl of thespring tensioning means generally described above is designed so that it may engage ythe ratchet wheel to prevent rotation of the shaft carrying the coil spring regardless of 'which direction the ratchet rotates or the coil spring is arranged.

Other objects, aspects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

lFIG. 1 is a front elevational viewshowing the closure mechanism of the present invention installed in a frame for a sliding door;

lFIG. 2 isan elevational view of the front of the sliding door .closure of the presen-t invention;

3,246,363 Patented Apr'. 19, 1965 ice iF-IG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along line 4 4 of FIG. 3 which is the plane through which the ho-using 4of the closure mechanism is divided into two sections; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the .drawings in detail, the closure mechanism of the presen-t invention is referred to general-ly by numeral 10. As seen in FIG. 1, the door closure mechanism lll may be positioned Within a channelshaped frame 12 for a door With the end of lthe flexible |band 14 of the Ymechanism affixed to the sliding door 16 by any suitable means. Generally speaking, vvs/lien the door 16 is moved to the right, the band 174 is unwound from the mechanism and is extended to the position shown in dotted lines and, after the door is released, the c-oil spring within the mechanism rewinds the band and returns the kdoor to Vthe position shown in full lines in FIG. 1.

Looking now to the details of the closure mechanism as seen FIGS. 2 to 4, there is provided a housing 1S lwhich is composed of a front section 20 and a rear section 22. The two sections of the housing .are readily secured together by means of screws 24 and 26. The fron-t Wall 218 of lthe front section 20 has a central opening 30 which is aligned with an opening 32 in the rear fwall 34 of the housing. Rotatably positioned in the openings is a round shaft 36 which includes a ratchet wheel 38 on the front face of the housing. The `shaft is retained in the openings 3i) and 32 by means of a retain- Aing or spring clip 40 adjacent 4the rear wal-l of the housing.

A reel 42 is positioned within the interior of the housing and comprises a pair of plates 44 and 46 which are rotatable with respect to the shaft 36 and a ring member 4S which is fixed to the plates 44 and 46 by welding or the like. Washers 50 and 512 are positioned on opposite sides of the plates 44 Vand 46 to enhance the free rotation of the reel about the shaft 36. The spring for the aclosure mechanism is in the form of a coil spring 54 which is wound around the shaft 36 and has its inner 4disposed over the lip 6() before the spring 54 and the latter tends to retain the flexible band on the lip 60.

The housing 18 of the closure is provided with a pair of opposed side walls 64 and 66 which have openings 68 and at the lower end thereof through which the flexible band 62 may extend, depending upon which direction the band and coil spring are wound about the shaft 36. Since the two sections 20 and 22 of the housing are merely connected together by means of screws 24 and 26, the housing may be readily disassembled and the reel 42- including the flexible band 612 and coil spring 54 may be reversed so thatthe door clos-ure maybe operable for either `left hand or right handopening doors.

One of the principal features of the invention is the provision of a means 4'71 for readily adjusting the tension of the coil spring 54 and, when once adjusted, it is positively locked into a fixedpositionand, hence, will not slip. 'The spring adjusting means 7|1 comprises the ratchet wheel 38 which is Aintegral with the shaft 36 and a pawl 72 which is pivotally mounted on a screw 74 which is mounted into Ithe front wall 28 of the housing 118. As can be best-seen from FIG. 2 of the drawings, the ratchet wheel 38 has a plurality of circumferentially spaced teeth 76 having side Walls 7 8 and 8i? which extend radially with respect to the axis of rotation of the shaft 36 and of the ratchet wheel. Also, the end of the pawl 72 is somewhat pointed. Due to the configuration of the end of the pawl and of the ratchet teeth, it is ensured that once the ratchet is rotated to the desired position to tension the coil spring 54, the pointed end of the pawl 7-2 will positively lock the ratchet wheel into position. A spring member 82 is wound about a portion of the screw 74 and has a pair of curved lips 84 and 85 which have upstanding portions Se and 87, respectively, adapted to engage opposite,V sides of the pawl. Two pins 90 and 92 extending from the front wall 2,8 of the housing bear against the outer sides of the lips 84 and 85 so that the spring 8:2 will be constantly positioned upwardly thereby holding the pawl in a substantially vertical position. Also, the upstanding portion 86 of the lip 84 of the spring urges the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel 38 thus further ensuring the locking of the ratchet wheel 3K8. The portion 87 of the spring 812 serves the same purpose as upstanding portion 86 when the point of the pa-wl is pivoted to the left of the screw 74 rather than to the right as seen in FIG. 2.

The ratchet Wheel is provided with a slot 94 which is adapted to receive a screwdriver or similar hand tool. It can be appreciated that by rotating the ratchet wheel 38 in a counterclockwise direction, the tension of the coil spring 54 is increased and the pawl 72 will merely ride over the ends of the teeth 76 of the ratchet wheel. However, if it is desired to decrease the tension of the coil spring 54, the pawl may 'be moved by hand out of engagement with the ratchet Wheel 38 against the force of the spring lip S4 to permit the ratchet under the force of the coil spring to rotate in a clockwise direction.V Thereafter, the pawl may be released and the spring lip 84 will return the pawl into locking engagement with the ratchet wheel 38.

It is seen from the above described arrangement that not only may the two sections 20 and 22 of the housing of the door closure be separated so as to reverse the position of the coil spring 54 and reel 412 but also the pawl 72 may be reassembled by merely unscrewing the screw 74 from the housing and pivoting the end of the pawl to a position to the left of the screw 74 rather than to the right as shown in FIG. 2 so as to engage the ratchet wheel and prevent it from rotating in a countercloclcwise direction. The spring arrangement 82 is advantageous in that -it will continuously urge the pawl 72 into engagement with the ratchet wheel 38 regardless of Whether the pawl is arranged to prevent the rotation of the ratchet wheel in either the counterclockwise or clockwise direction. Thus, the door closure of the present invention is extremely versatile since it may be readily assembled and arranged by the user before mounting it into a door frame so that it will be suitable for either a left hand or right hand opening door.

It is preferable that the housing 18 of the door closure have the general rectangular configuration shown in the drawings with flat front and rear walls so thatthe housing may be readily positioned in a door frame channel as shown in FIG. of the dra-wings. For the purpose of mounting the housing in the door channel, a pair of openings 96 and 98 are provided through the housing so that all that need be done is to provide openings in the channel for receiving self-tapping screws 100 or the like for retaining the housing in the door frame. As seen in FfGS. 1 and 5, the pawl 72 and ratchet wheel 38 are disposed on the housing 1'8 so that they are positioned below the Alower edge 102 of the door frame thus permitting easy access to the spring adjusting means '71. If it is not possible to fit the housing within the channel 112, the closure mechanism 10 may be mounted on the outer wall adjacent the sliding door and the end 14 of the flexible band of the d closure mechanism may be fixed to the door through an arm, not shown, which extends at right angles outwardly from the door.

IAlthough only one specific embodiment of the invention lhas been disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, it

will be understood that various changes can be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportionsA of the Various parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as dened by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

t. A siiding door closure comprising:

a housing having a front wall, a back wall and at least two opposite side walls, each of said side walls hav- 4ing an opening therein through which a flexible band may extend;

f Vsaid housing being formed of two sections with one of said sections including said front wall and the other of said sections including said back wall and means detachably holding said sections together in fixed relationship;

said front wall and said back wall having aligned openings therein;

a shaft rotatably positioned in said openings;

a reel in said housing freely surrounding said shaft;

a coil spring positioned in said reel and concentric with said shaft, one end of said spring being fixed to said shaft and the other end of said spring being fixed to said reel thereby normally urging said reel in one direction of rotation;

a iiexible band wound on said reel having, one end V)thereof fixed to said reel and the other end extending outside said housing through one of said side wall openings for connection to a sliding door;

means for adjusting the tension of said spring, said means including ratchet means fixed to said shaft at the front wall of said housing, a single pawl and means pivotally mounting said pawl on said front lwall so as to engage said ratchet means;

said means pivotally mounting said pawl on said front wall being readily removable whereby said pawl may be selectively assembled into two positions to engage and prevent rotation of said ratchet means in either direction of rotation thereof; and

said biasing means urging said pawl into engagement Iwith said ratchet means regardless of which of said two positions the pawl is disposed.

2. A sliding door closure comprising:

a rectangular housing having a at front wall, a fiat ibaek wall and two pairs of said walls, one pair of said side walls having openings therein at the lower portions thereof through which a exible band may extend;

said housing being formed of two sections with one o said sections including said front wall and the other of said sections including said bac-k wall, and means detachably holding said sections together in fixed relationship;

said front wall and said back wall having aligned openings therein;

a shaft rotatably positioned in saidropenings;

a reel in said housing freely surrounding said shaft;

a coil spring positioned in said reel and concentric with said shaft, one end of saidY spring being fixed to said shaft and the other end of said spring being fixed to said reel thereby normally urging said reel in one direction of rotation;

a fiexible ban-d wound on said reel having one end thereof fixed to said reel and the other end extending outside said housing through one of said side wall openings-forconnection to a sliding door;

means for adjusting the tension of said spring, said means including ratchet means fixed to said shaft at the front w-all of said housing and a single pawl, said ratchet means having a plurality of circumferentially References Cited by the Examiner spaced teeth, each of said teeth having side Walls ex- UNITED STATES PATENTS tending radially with respect to the axis of rotation 90 769 1/ 1869 Middaugh 16 77 of sal shaft 916,455 3/1909 Weeber et a1. iis- 6s means pivotally mounting said pawl on said front wall 5 1 105 V680 8/'1914 .Mitchell 2424107 5 so that an end thereof engages said ratchet means be- 1175730 3/,1916 ,Endlich 8`1 511 tween consecutive -teeth of said ratchet means, said 151'3212 10/1924 Beale et 81 6,2

pawl mounting means being readily removable where- 2'596648 5/,1952 Buog et aL 242-1075 by said pawl may be selectively assembled into two 7g/i435 7/1957 ,Deker et a1. 16 198 positions to engage and prevent rotation of said 10 2,849,039 ,8/1953 Lindmark 118g 82.2

ratchet means in ett-her direction of rotation thereof; 2,992,450 7/.1961 pitienger 16-78 and 3,045,276 7/196'2 Schwarz 16-78 X means biasing said end of said pa-wl into engagement with said ratchet means regardless of which of said 5 JOSEPH D' SEERS Prmary Exammer' two positions said pawl is disposed, BOBBY R. GAY, Exqmiier, 

1. A SLIDING DOOR CLOSURE COMPRISING: A HOUSING HAVING A FRONT WALL, A BACK WALL AND AT LEAST TWO OPPOSITE SIDE WALLS, EACH OF SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN THROUGH WHICH A FLEXIBLE BAND MAY EXTEND; SAID HOUSING BEING FORMED OF TWO SECTIONS WITH ONE OF SAID SECTIONS INCLUDING SAID FRONT WALL AND THE OTHER OF SAID SECTIONS INCLUDING SAID BACK WALL AND MEANS DETACHABLY HOLDING SAID SECTIONS TOGETHER IN FIXED RELATIONSHIP; SAID FRONT WALL AND SAID BACK WALL HAVING ALIGNED OPENINGS THEREIN; A SHAFT ROTATABLY POSITIONED IN SAID OPENINGS; A REEL IN SAID HOUSING FREELY SURROUNDING SAID SHAFT; A COIL SPRING POSITIONED IN SAID REEL AND CONCENTRIC WITH SAID SHAFT, ONE END OF SAID SPRING BEING FIXED TO SAID SHAFT AND THE OTHER END OF SAID SPRING BEING FIXED TO SAID REEL THEREBY NORMALLY URGING SAID REEL IN ONE DIRECTION OF ROTATION; A FLEXIBLE BAND WOUND ON SAID REEL HAVING ONE END THEREOF FIXED TO SAID REEL AND THE OTHER END EXTENDING OUTSIDE SAID HOUSING THROUGH ONE OF SAID SIDE WALL OPENINGS FOR CONNECTION TO A SLIDING DOOR; MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE TENSION OF SAID SPRING, SAID MEANS INCLUDING RATCHET MEANS FIXED TO SAID SHAFT AT THE FRONT WALL OF SAID HOUSING, A SINGLE PAWL AND MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID PAWL ON SAID FRONT WALL SO AS TO ENGAGE SAID RATCHET MEANS; SAID MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID PAWL ON SAID FRONT WALL BEING READILY REMOVABLY WHEREBY SAID PAWL MAY BE SELECTIVELY ASSEMBLED INTO TWO POSITIONS TO ENGAGE AND PREVENT ROTATION OF SAID RATCHET MEANS IN EITHER DIRECTION OF ROTATION THEREOF; AND SAID BIASING MEANS URGING SAID PAWL INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID RATCHET MEANS REGARDLESS OF WHICH OF SAID TWO POSITIONS THE PAWL IS DISPOSED. 